


we could be heroes (aca-losers)

by january_emberss



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: A cappella AU, Alternate Universe - College/University, Language Bc of course, Modern AU, Multi, NOT pitch perfect, aca-losers, aged up losers, bowers gang being stupid jerks, but like, i dont know what im doing lol, it's it's own storyline, kind of OOC Bowers Gang, more tags as I go along, preppy jerks, they're still jerks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-25 17:39:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13839744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/january_emberss/pseuds/january_emberss
Summary: or the a cappella au that no one asked for but I wrote!!





	we could be heroes (aca-losers)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie auditions for an a cappella group.

Eddie Kaspbrak would rather be absolutely anywhere else than here. Which is exactly why he was here.

Earlier in the day Eddie had been sitting in his empty dorm room with his Intro to Micro textbook open and his notebook in his lap, writing up Friday’s notes as best he could with a broken arm when his phone buzzed. He used his good arm to look at his phone to see that his orientation counselor had messaged his entire group:

“Just a reminder!! The Activities Fair is today! You ALL should come and see all the great clubs! We’re meeting at 5 outside the gym so we can all go in together!”

Eddie groaned. Being in a sweaty gym full of sweaty people while being yelled at to join the chess club is the last thing he wanted to do. Clubs would just distract him from getting his degree and moving out of his mother’s grasp as fast as possible. It was a miracle his mother let him go to a college outside of New York. It helped that the University of Derry in Maine offered him a full ride. After much fighting and screaming, his mother “let him” accept the scholarship to UDerry, on the condition that she calls him at least two times a day and FaceTimes him every other day and that he comes home for one weekend every month. Honestly, Eddie should be grateful that she didn’t make him promise more.

Eddie stared at the message from his orientation counselor. Going to the activities fair might be disgusting, but maybe he should step out of his comfort zone and stick it to his mother. And show himself that he can make decisions for himself, and not just let his mother decide his entire life for him. It was that thought that tipped the scale and got him out of the dorm room and into that sweaty gym.

Which is how he found himself standing uncomfortably in the middle of a crowded auditorium, watching the other lanyard-wearing freshmen grab papers from the different tables and booths set up all over the room. Eddie fiddled with his fanny pack, silently willing himself to not reach for his inhaler. “Eddie stop it. You don’t need it. Practice those deep breaths.” Easier said than done. He managed one shaky breath before he forced himself to start walking and looking at the different clubs. He even tried to ignore all the whispers and stares as he walked past. Curse his luck and his clumsiness and this stupid fucking cast, he thought. He shook his head and continued browsing the tables.

A half hour later and Eddie still hadn’t picked up a single paper. Somehow he had made up an excuse for every single club he passed. “It would interfere with classes.” “He’s not good enough for that.” “Only drama kids do that.” Etc., etc. He was starting to get frustrated with his lack of decisions when his phone started buzzing. Eddie closed his eyes and exhaled. “Oh please not now.” He reluctantly pulled his phone out of his fanny pack and saw that “Mom” was calling him. Eddie sure did take his sweet time answering, but he answered it nonetheless.

“Hi Ma.”

“Eddie bear, you didn’t answer right away. I got so worried! I thought something happened to you!”

“Ma I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Oh you don’t want me to worry about you? I can’t help it Eddie. I’m your mother. What kind of mother would I be if I didn’t worry about you?”

Eddie chose not to answer that question.

“Are you taking care of yourself? You should try to go to the nurse’s office at least once a week and make sure you’re not getting sick sweetie.”

“Ma I think that’s a little excessive.”

“Edward! I’m looking out for you! College is a dangerous place filled with dangerous people who will get you sick if you’re not careful! Do you want to get sick Eddie?”

Eddie clenched his fist. “No ma.”

“Good. Just stick to your classes and then you’ll find a good job in New York and then come back home.”

“Ma.”

“I’m not discussing this. I love you Eddie. I’m only looking out for you.”

“Looking out for me?!” Eddie lost it. “Is that what you’re calling it? When you tricked me and told me all those lies when you-“

“That’s enough!” yelled Sonia.

Silence on both lines. The tension was so thick, Eddie was sure that everyone around him could feel it radiating out of him.

“You’re coming home next weekend.”

“Ma you said once a month! I was already home last weekend!”

“If your recent behavior is any indicator, maybe this college isn’t good for you. Come home this weekend and prove me wrong.”

Eddie was shaking with rage now.

“I will.”

“I love you Eddie bear.”

Click.

Eddie should have seen this coming. He had been trying to keep his temper in check around her, and he knows he shouldn’t have lost it but…you know what, no! Eddie thought. Enough! Enough making excuses for her! She ruined his life! She shouldn’t “expect” him to do anything. With his jaw set and his face red, he made the decision that he would NOT be coming home this weekend. They agreed to one weekend a month, and that weekend has already passed. He would be coming home next month, Sonia.

With scary determination, Eddie marched himself over to the table advertising something (he couldn’t see what it said through his blind rage) for next Friday, determined to have an excuse for his overbearing mother. Grumbling (and probably scaring the person behind the table) he wrote his name on the piece of paper where quite a number of other people had written their name. He grabbed a flyer for this organization and stormed away, out of the sweaty gym and back to his dorm room.

As he flopped on the bed and took a deep breath to calm himself, he thought that he should probably see what he so angrily signed up for. He looked at the flyer:

“Come audition for Dissonance! Derry’s all male a cappella group! Next Friday starting at 3 pm!”

Fuck.

Eddie was so screwed.

***********************************************************************

That was how Eddie found him in one of Barren Hall’s many practice rooms, hunched over his phone, listening to his audition song for the umpteenth time that hour. Eddie really and truly had gotten himself into a pickle. He hasn’t sung since the sixth grade in choir. Well, he’s sung in the shower but does that really count? That’s the only thing that counts, because that’s the only singing he’s ever done recently. Fuck. He is so so screwed he shouldn’t even be doing this he should just go home like he said he would-

Eddie stopped his overthinking immediately. That’s why he’s doing this: to not go home, and to push himself out of his comfort zone. He texted his mother and said “I have an audition for an a cappella group this weekend. I can’t go home. Sorry mommy.” She wasn’t too thrilled, but miraculously let him stay, with the promise that he would come home on Sunday to have dinner with her. Hey. It went better than it could’ve gone. He went back to listening to his song. He decided on one of his favorites: “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” by the late great Whitney Houston. He thinks he would probably be the most comfortable with that, considering he has sung and danced in his underwear many a time to Whitney in high school when he wanted to procrastinate math homework. He paused the music and sang the first verse chorus once, then twice, then a third time just to be safe. He walked out of the practice room and down the hall, his head held high, determined to not flake out.

The amount of people that were waiting to audition was mind-boggling. The hall was almost as filled as the Activities Fair was. Boys and girls alike were found humming different pop tunes as they waited to audition for either Dissonance or the Glissandos (the all female a cappella group). Both were…surprisingly good. Eddie had done his research on both groups, and both were well known throughout the East Coast. He had stayed up one night watching Dissonance’s rendition of “All of Me” by John Legend, and he couldn’t get it out of his head. The combination of their voices was so smooth and perfect, that he almost couldn’t believe he was actually going to audition for them.

He went up to the audition table and checked in. He was given a piece of paper to fill out, with his name, year, major, and voice part. For voice part, he had to circle Bass, Baritone, or Tenor. He remembers from sixth grade that the Bass is the lowest voice, so he figures that Tenor must be the highest, so he circles that. He hands the piece of paper back to the guy running the audition table. He sat down between a girl with headphones in and a guy muttering a pep talk to himself. He let himself drift off, thinking about what he was about to do. The more he thought about it, the more he actually thought it was a good idea. This would be a great way to get his head out of his books, and it would force him to interact with other people. Friends were never Eddie’s forte, and he was determined to change that in college as well. He could almost imagine it: him in a Dissonance blazer, laughing in rehearsal as they practice for their fourth consecutive ICCA win, a job lined up in sunny California, far away from his overbearing mother, and his a cappella group being so supportive of him the whole way.

Damn. When did he turn into this much of a romantic?

“Eddie Kaspbrak?”

Eddie turned his head to the voice so fast he think he heard a crack. He stood up.

“They’re ready for you.”

As if on cue, Eddie’s palms started sweating and his breathing became a little labored. He gave the boy a quick nod and took a deep breath. His hand twitched towards his fanny pack. He started to walk to the classroom, where a sign had been put up that said “Dissonance Auditions.” He stood in front of the door for a beat. He steeled himself, and opened the door.

At the other end of the room sat the entire a cappella group. They all had name tags on the lapels of their matching blazers: Patrick, Victor, Belch (that must be a nickname), etc. In the middle sat a boy with the name tag “Henry.” This was the boy who solo’d on All of Me. Eddie felt a little starstruck.

“Um, hi.” Eddie gave a soft smile and awkward wave.

Henry looked down at the paper. “All right guys this is Eddie and he is a freshman tenor.” He looked at Eddie. “What’re you gonna sing for us?”

Eddie felt like a zoo animal. “I uh…I’ll be singing I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston.”

Henry nodded and sat back. The cue for Eddie to start singing.

He got off to a rocky start, but Eddie thought he did pretty well. For not having sung since sixth grade, he did outstanding. In the middle of his audition, he started to have a little fun with it and even did that little a cappella bop he always sees those videos.

When he finished, he stood there, slightly out of breath, waiting to see what would happen. The boys all looked at each other, some wearing smiles. Eddie smiled at that. That had to be a good sign. Henry was staring at Eddie. He learned forward and put his arms on the desk he was sitting at and folded his hands together. “So Eddie.”

Eddie waited expectantly.

“Did you bring your fairy wings in your fanny pack too?”

Laughter.

Eddie’s heart and stomach fell right through the floor, through the earth, right out into the other side of space. His legs had turned to jelly and stone all at once, not knowing whether he was going to collapse into a puddle, or be rooted to the spot forever. He was sure his face had burst into flames. He could feel the beginning of tears. This couldn’t be happening. He thought he left this behind in high school.

“Because that’s the only thing you’re missing.”

The smiles that Eddie had thought were encouraging soon turned malicious as Henry continued.

“That was really great, Eddie, but you might want to audition for the girls group next door. You’d fit in a lot better there.”

Eddie felt bile come up and fought the urge to throw up all over Henry’s stupid blazer.

“We’re done here.”

Eddie found the willpower to move his legs and started to walk out with his head bowed down. Before he got to the door, he heard someone else say:

“Watch your step, Cast Boy!”

Eddie’s face got even more red and he almost ran the rest of the way out the door. He was so so stupid. Why the hell did he even think he could do this? His mother was fucking right. This was just like high school all over again. Why did he think college would be any different? God, he just wanted to prove that he could handle being by himself. Guess he was wrong. So fucking wr-

SMACK.

Not watching where he was going, to caught up in his own head, he ran right into someone coming out of the classroom next to the Dissonance auditions (which was the Glissandos audition room): a girl with wavy, dirty blonde hair and what looked like a permanently angry look on her face. She was chewing gum. She looked at Eddie. He must look ridiculous, he thought, face beet red and eyes watering. She looked at him for a second before…

“You’re the cast kid.”

Oh no.

“You’re the kid that broke his arm the first day of orientation.”

Eddie remained silent. The girl looked down at his cast. “What, no one signed it?”

Eddie just glared at her. “I didn’t want it to get dirty,” he said a little fiercely.

The girl seemed unperturbed. She just popped her gum. Then she pulled a Sharpie from her pocket. “I’ll sign it.”

And without giving Eddie time to think, she grabbed his arm, wrote the word “LOSER” on it, took her gum out, stuck it in the middle of the “O,” winked, and walked away.

GERMSGERMSGERMSGERMSGERMSGERMS

Eddie’s mind had turned to an endless stream of fear and how much germs were in the human mouth that were now on his arm and his cast and how protective was his cast against germs they could be seeping into his skin at any point…

Eddie felt the tears start to fall as he continued walking.

What Eddie thought was gonna be a new leaf turned into a fucking nightmare.

The tears were falling so fast that Eddie didn’t even realize, when he turned the corner, that he didn’t turn the corner.

He walked right into the classroom at the end of the hall.

Eddie looked up and was met with six pairs of eyes looking at him.

The tears cleared up enough to take in the room. There were six students lounging around: five boys and a red-haired girl. One boy, sitting in the middle of the room, had brown hair with a slight auburn glare to it. He was wearing a baseball tee. The boy next to him was sitting rather primly, with a kippah pinned to his curly blonde-brown hair. Closer to the door sat a dark-skinned boy with kind eyes. Next to him was a bigger boy with a sad look on his face. At the front of the room, having pulled a chair by the teacher’s table, sat the red-haired girl, whose fierce eyes seemed to bore right into Eddie’s soul. Sitting on the teacher’s table, his feet dangling, was a gangly boy with unbelievably messy, curly black hair and thick glasses. He was wearing a garish Hawaiian print shirt.

Eddie stared at them, and they stared right back. The silence was broken by Eddie.

“I’m-“ his voice cracked and he hiccuped. “I’m sorry I thought this was the hallway.” He was so embarrassed with how broken and small his voice sounded. He started to walk back out.

“Wait!”

Eddie stopped and looked back. The boy with the baseball tee had spoken up.

“D-d-did you just come from auditions, t-too?”

The stutter was surprising for his voice. His voice was so strong and soothing that Eddie felt he would have done anything this boy asked of him.

“Yeah. I did.”

The boy looked at everyone else. They all looked grim, but like they witnessed the same horrific event.

“W-we auditioned, too. They told me that n-no buy with a stutter c-could ever sing for them.”

Eddie looked at them with surprise. He now knew why they were all here. They were commiserating because they all got rejected by Dissonance in one way or another. Eddie looked at the girl.

“You?”

“I auditioned for the Glissy Bitches” the girl. Eddie choked on a laugh. The girl shot him an appreciative smile. “Yeah apparently they don’t take girls with short hair, said I should audition for Dissonance.” She rolled her eyes.

“Yeah they-the-Dissonance told me to audition for the Glissandos.”

“Nice.” The girl held her hand out for a high five. Eddie gratefully high fived her and smiled for what felt like the first time in a while.

“I’m Beverly. I go by Bev, too.”

“And I’m B-Bill.”

The boy with the stutter looked at Eddie with a smile. Next to him, the boy with the kippah raised his hand. “Stan.” The bigger boy smiled and said, “Hi, I’m Ben.” Next to him, the dark-skinned boy introduced himself. “Mike. Nice to meet you.” And finally.

“Richie Tozier, at your service.” In what Eddie thought was the worst British accent ever.

“What the hell was that?”

“It was a British accent, obviously!”

“Richie, stop. That sounds like you have marbles in your mouth,” Beverly cut in. She turned to Eddie. “Honestly, I’m surprised he didn’t talk for as long as he did. He hasn’t shut up since he came in here two hours ago.”

The boy named Richie stood up. He was so so tall. Eddie barely came to his shoulder. Granted he was 5’6”, but still.

“Okay, you’re all just jealous that I can even do accents.”

“Yep, that’s it.” Said the boy Stan.

“Staniel come on.”

“Please don’t call me that-“

Richie went over to Stan and proceeded to try and climb into his lap.

“You love me Stan the Man.”

“Richie get the fuck off of me.”

Eddie was more bewildered than anything. He looked at the other two: Mike and Ben. Mike rolled his eyes.

“They’ve been like that all day. What’s your name?”

“Eddie.”

Richie’s head popped up.

“Eddie as in…Eddie Spaghetti?”

Eddie was horrified.

“Absolutely not. Do not ever call me that.”

Richie had a shit-eating grin on his face. “Too late. You’re stuck with that, Spaghetti.”

Eddie shuddered and ignored him. Eddie decided that Richie was really annoying.

“So…what happened to you guys?”

Ben looked at Mike. He turned to Eddie sheepishly. “I uh…I really like New Kids on the Block and…similar boy bands, and apparently that’s a big no no.” He paused. “They also don’t like transfers, apparently.”

“You’re a transfer?” Mike said, surprised.

“Yeah, I went to University of Nebraska-Lincoln for a year. So, technically I’m a sophomore.”

“That’s cool.” Mike said sincerely.

“What about you?” Eddie said to Mike.

“I didn’t even sing. They uh” Mike scratched the back of his neck. “They took one look at me and said ‘We don’t take people like you.’”

Eddie’s blood boiled. What a bunch of racist jerks! And to think that Eddie had wanted to be in their group.

“That is SO messed up.”

A voice right by Eddie’s ear said “I know right?”

Eddie yelped. He whipped around and stared right at that Richie kid’s stupid face. He even had the audacity to laugh. “This kid is too cute, holy shit.”

Eddie’s face flushed.

“So what did they say to you, cutie?”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Ok Spaghetti.”

Eddie groaned and folded his arms. He heard a chuckle behind him. “So seriously.” Richie had plopped his gangly self on a desk and pulled it up so that he was between Eddie and Ben. “Mike was black, Ben liked boy bands, Bill has a stutter, Bev looked too much like a boy, I was too annoying, and Stan was Jewish.” Richie put his hands on his knees and looked at Eddie, hunched so that he was almost at Eddie’s level. “What did they say to you?”

Eddie stared right back. Everyone was looking at him, waiting for him to tell them why he didn’t make it. Eddie had no reason to tell them anything, but they all seemed so nice, funny, and genuine, unlike Dissonance, that he felt like he could trust them to not make fun of him. Well, Richie might, but he doesn’t count, Eddie decided.

“They asked if my fairy wings were in my fanny pack. So basically because I’m girly and wear a fanny pack.”

Beverly growled.

“God, fuck them! They’re a bunch of fucking assholes. What did you sing?”

“I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”

Richie gasped. “Hoooooly fucking SHIT. I would pay money to see you sing that. Can we get an encore?” Richie was bouncing his leg up and down, looking like a kid in a candy store who just ate his weight in candy.

“Absolutely not.”

Bill spoke up again. “Did they actually write “LOSER” too? On your cast?”

Eddie looked down and remembered the cast and, consequently, the gum. His breathing became shallow.

“Uh. Can someone-“ he pointed at the gum. “Take that off please? I-“ He started to gasp for air. “Shit.”

Mike bolted out of his chair to Eddie and plucked the piece of gum off. Eddie started to breathe easier. “Are you okay?” Eddie looked at him. He had such a kind face. “Yes. Thank you.”

He looked around. Everyone looked ready to help him. Eddie felt such a wave of gratitude for these random people that he just met. Eddie looked back at his cast. There was no gum now, but “LOSER” was still there. He had an idea.

“Does anyone have a sharpie?”

They all looked around. Stan reached for his backpack and pulled out a red one. Eddie went over and snatched the sharpie. He pulled the cap off with his mouth and started furiously scribbling. When he was done, he capped the sharpie and handed it back to Stan. He stared at the cast.

“Los-v-er?”

“No, it’s supposed to just be lover. I-“ Eddie’s face got red again. “It felt good. To do that.”

“I like it.” Bev said. Bev was definitely Eddie’s favorite. “It’s super edgy. Like the album cover for an indie band.”

At that point, Richie gasped. His eyes looked comically wide, behind his thick glasses. He jumped up, and his arms flailed around. Ben spoke up.

“Use your words, Richie.”

Richie smiled maniacally at Eddie.

“That’s it!”

Eddie was still confused.

“What’s it?”

Richie ran over to the whiteboard in the room and grabbed a black marker and a red marker. He wrote LOSER in big block letters and then took the red sharpie and wrote V over the S. He turned around and stared at the group.

“We should form our own a cappella group.”

Silence.

“What?”

“Richie that is your most stupid idea yet.”

“How is that gonna work?”

“Absolutely not.”

“I’m in.”

Everyone’s head shot to Bev. Bev stood up and stared right back. “What? I wanna sing. Plus that’ll really stick it to these preppy assholes that we can be an a cappella group as much as anyone else.”

Bill stood up, too.

“I th-think we should do it. What right do th-they have to tell us that we c-can’t be in their group for b-bullshit reasons? If we pr-prove that we can be j-just as good, we can show everyone else that they don’t have to take their c-crap.”

Bill grabbed the black sharpie and wrote his name. He turned to the group at large.

“Who’s in?”

Beverly was the first to grab the sharpie and right her name, followed by Richie, then Mike, Ben, and a very reluctant Stan eventually signed too. They all turned to Eddie. Richie held out the sharpie.

“Are you in?”

Eddie stared at them. His anxiety was creeping back in. This could end very badly. It could end with them getting hurt by the jerks in Dissonance, them being laughed off campus, and then he would have to go back to his mom…

It was this thought that pushed Eddie to take the sharpie and sign his name. He looked back at them all with a smile on his face. Everyone smiled right back.

“Let’s do this, Losers!!”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello hello hello!! So this idea came to me when I had a wave of nostalgia for my own college a cappella group, and I thought, "that would be a cute au for the Losers Club!" So we'll see where this goes! There'll obviously be romance (Reddie, probably Benverly and Stanlon, maybe Bill x Stan x Mike, but I want to see where the story takes me before I officially tag any other relationships besides Reddie); and there'll be some drama (obviously) and...possibly some Pennywise? Who knows? As far as how I'm going to write the songs, I have no clue. I think I won't write them actually performing the songs, and I might link the songs in the notes? We'll see.
> 
> I think that's it as far as notes! This is a WIP so it's still subject to rewrites because I'm crazy. Kudos and comments are very much appreciated! If you want to say hi to me or yell at me about this story, my tumblr's @fuckin-georg ! :)


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